In 1990, the Voyager 1 probe has taken a shady image of a dot right in the center of one scattered light rays resulting from taking the picture too close to the Sun. That "pale blue dot" was Earth seen from 6.5 billion kilometers from the outskirts of the solar system.

Cassini probe around Saturn has now taken another snap-shot of our planet from around 1.3 billion kilometers. The photo was made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the Sun from Cassini's point of view. At the distance of Saturn's orbit, Earth is so close to the Sun that in normal circumstances, the cameras and other instruments would be blinded by the Sun's glare.

The magnified region reveals not only our planet but also the Moon - seen as a dim protrusion to the upper left of the Earth. If the resolution would have been higher, Cassini would have seen from its position the Atlantic Ocean and the western coast of North Africa.

"As we looked back in the direction of the sun, we captured from across the depths of space our own planet, a pale blue orb, seen amidst the pageantry and colorful splendor of Saturn's rings," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader. "Nothing has greater power to alter our perception of ourselves and our place in the cosmos than the sight of Earth from faraway places. In the end, this ever-widening view of our own little planet against the immensity of space is perhaps the greatest legacy of all our interplanetary travels."

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteNASA/JPL/Space Science Institute